Getting into the Swing of it

Hello everyone

My name is Samuel and I’m an MBA student. I’ve only been resistance training on a regular basis since January of this year. I started at 10 reps of 95 pounds on high bar back squats and have slowly made progress from there.

I started to lift with barbells to improve my lifts in my ballroom dancing, which I have been doing for about two years now. I’ve advanced enough in East Coast swing dancing to where I am lifting my dance partners and wanted to move to more difficult lifts to improve my dancing.

I have a fairly simple program I’ll eventually add volume to when I stall.

MWF
A and B day rotating
Cardio or dance practice 3 days a week TThSat
No dance practice over the summer other than with friends

A day
2x10 High bar atg back squats
2x10 barbell overhead press
2x10 assisted chins

B day
2x10 deadlift
2x10 dumbbell bench
2x10 barbell supine rows

The lifts and rep schema I picked is based mainly off of my own personal preferences and what I know I am actually willing to comply with.
Since starting my lifting I’ve already added a lift to my swing dancing.

my most recent lifting day was May 23rd

Back squats
170 pounds x 10
175 x10
overhead press
80 pounds x 11
80 x 11
chin-ups
80 assisted x 10
80 assisted x 10

I know that my goals are more directed towards a cardio heavy sport but I hope you all will not mind that.

May 25th, 2018

deadlifts
195 x 10
195 x 10

dumbell bench
40s x 11
45 x 10

barbell supine rows
80 x 10
80 x 10

I also did some cardio yesterday. I’ll probably never reach my hay day of cardio back when I ran a 5:17 1600m, but I still enjoy my cardio. When my roommates are back in town I will probably make them do some form of ballroom dancing with me. My dancing is getting pretty out of practice.

I’ve set some summer lifting goals for myself.

deadlifting 245 for 10 reps
high bar back squatting 225 for 10 reps
overhead pressing 115 for 10 reps
5 unassisted chin-ups

also, I remembered that I did not give any of my stats
5’10"
164 pounds

Yesterday, being unable to go to the gym due to visiting my parents in the middle of nowhere, I lifted some logs in their backyard. Cleaning logs and doing front squats with them was quite the experience. I should be able to do my actual lifts again Wednessday.

May 30th, 2018

rushed my workout a little because of an interview this afternoon I had to get ready for

back squats
175 x 10
175 x 10

overhead press
85 x 9
85 x 10

chins
80 assisted x 10
80 assisted x 10

Today went well, despite a slight tweak in my right hamstring. What was I gunna do, not train?

deadlifts
200 x 10
200 x 10

dumbell bench
45s x 10
45s x 10

barbell supine rows
80 x 10
85 x 10

My weight on the scale (now 166) continues to go up, as well as the weight on my lifts.

On an unrelated note, the interview two days ago seems to have gone well. If I get this full time banking position during grad school I’ll be really well off financially.

It was a good day in the gym, once again.

back squats
175 x 10
180 x 10

overhead press
85 x 10
85 x 11

chins
80 assisted x 11
75 assisted x 10

In a couple of weeks I’m thinking of tracking RPE so I can develop that skill for when it is useful to me someday.

BW was the same as last week, but I lifted on an empy stomach this morning when I weighed myself so I’m probs still making progress.

Today was another good day in the gym.

deadlifts
205 x 10
205 x 10

dumbell bench
45s x 11
45s x 11

barbell supine rows
85 x 10
85 x 10

I’m a little low on sleep from celebrating my job offer last night. Working full time, going to grad school, and training will be hard, but should be worth it.

back squats
180 x 10
180 x 10

overhead press
85 x 10
85 x 11

chins
75 assisted x 10
75 assisted x 10

I’ve realized that I will soon have an 8 hour work day plus 4 hours of class on Fridays starting next week so I think I’m going to switch to a Tuesday Thursday Saturday lifting schedule soon.

Lifting went well today. The gym was flooded with High Schoolers, but I still had no issues using the equipment I needed. I managed to get everything done rather quickly, which I’ll need to do on a regular basis once my schedule picks up.

Deadlift
210 x 10
210 x 10

dumbell bench
45s x 12
45s x 12

barbell supine row
85 x 11
85 x 11

I’m pretty happy with my current progress on deadlifts. Progresson my other lifts has slowed.

June 13th, 2018

back squat
180 x 10
185 x 10

overhead press
85 x 11
85 x 12

chins
75 assisted x 11
75 assisted x 11

June 15th

deadlift
215 x 10
215 x 10

dumbell bench
45s x 11
50 x 10

barbell supine rows
85 x 12
85 x 12

I realized that my class switches from Friday and Saturday the first week to Tuesday Thursday after that. I’ll have to cut cardio to once or twice a week, but I can keep lifting on my regular days!

I’m very happy with how my Deadlift is progressing. It’s moving far ahead of my squat, but that’s expected considering that I squat high bar and atg. If I’m going to hit any if my summer lifting goals it will probably be the 245 x 10 deadlift.

Dumbell bench finally went up in weight, which I am pretty happy about. Rows are struggling a bit but they are a little hard to measure form on.